This disclosure relates to a semiconductor component having differently structured cell regions, and a method for producing it. Differently structured cell regions are used in semiconductor components having a drift path region between a first electrode and a second electrode. In this case, the different cell structure depends on whether the drift path is oriented laterally between the two electrodes arranged on a surface of a semiconductor body or whether the drift path is oriented vertically in a semiconductor body between an electrode on the top side of the semiconductor body and an electrode on the rear side of the semiconductor body. In general, however, the orientation of the drift path and the current flow direction are independent of the arrangement of the electrodes.
Furthermore, different cell regions are realized by subdividing the drift path into drift zones and field plate regions. These semiconductor components having differently structured cell regions nevertheless exhibit a uniform drift path length adapted to the reverse voltage of the semiconductor component. The drift path length is of consistent length in all the cell regions in order to ensure that the reverse voltage provided for the semiconductor component is achieved in the entire drift path region.
If a semiconductor component having field plates which project into the drift path and draw their potential from the drift path via a diffusion region is operated in the avalanche case, then the avalanche-generated charge carriers alter the charge and thus the voltage on the field plates. Depending on the structure and the current density, this can lead to an increase in the breakdown voltage or a decrease in the breakdown voltage. A decrease in the breakdown voltage as the current density increases is referred to as the “snapback effect” and is critical at high current densities since this instability can lead to splitting and destruction of the semiconductor component.
For these and other reasons, there is a need for the present invention.